After several years of neglect, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) intends to launch the first major investment cycle in 2022 for equipping the Navy with new vessels, but this procedure, like those carried out in the past years in the Air Force and the Army by the former DPS leadership of that department, suffers from lack of transparency.
In the budget proposal of Montenegro for 2022, it is foreseen that the state will borrow 50 million euros next year for, as stated, the purchase of two new patrol ships for the needs of the Navy of the Army of Montenegro (MVCG).
The Ministry of Defense states that the long-term Plan for the Development of the Defense System of Montenegro envisages the procurement of two new patrol ships, "which is the framework for the procurement", but that "the issues regarding contracting the procurement of ships have not yet been specified".
The department led by Olivera Injac did not respond to the questions of "Vijesti" with which specific creditor, or supplier, is the most likely contract for the procurement of new patrol boats, or whether newly built or used ships will be purchased. It has not been explained why the planned acquisition of only two and not three ships is the technical and operational minimum to satisfy the principle of continuous availability of at least one ship to carry out its mission at sea.
"In the previous period, a proposal for the specification of the ship was drawn up, but it has not yet been adopted as final", said the Ministry of Defense, avoiding to answer what are the specific tactical and technical requirements set by the Navy of Croatia and the Ministry of Defense for the selection of new patrol ships that will be put into operational use: basic dimensions of ships, displacement, speed, number of crew members, propulsion system, weapons, sensors and equipment, autonomy in terms of sailing distance and number of days at sea without resupply.
It was not even answered specifically which available types of patrol boats were shortlisted, which raises the question of how seriously a project worth several tens of millions of euros worth of state money was being prepared in the past years, given that the procurement of new patrol boats is something that has long been foreseen in the strategic plan. documents and plans of the Department of Defense.
The purchase of new patrol ships, namely, was announced and promised by many former DPS defense ministers, starting with Bor Vučinić, through Milica Pejanović Đurišić, to Predrag Bošković, so it is almost unbelievable that the leadership of the Navy and the Department of Defense, which is now headed by Injac, even after after ten years of "preparation" they still haven't even adopted the final specification of the ship that should meet the operational needs of MVCG in the next few decades.
"The Ministry of Defense has established a Commission for the development of specifications for new patrol ships, 50 to 70 meters in length, which will respond to tactical-technical requirements in accordance with national needs and allied requirements, based on the criteria defined by NATO documents for this class of ships. Market research activities are underway (several renowned world shipbuilding companies), after which the procurement procedure will begin," said the Ministry of Defense, without specifying when we will finally know what we need and what the new warships will look like. to enable a much longer and more efficient presence of state authorities at sea and control of its territorial waters and the so-called continental shelf.
A similar thing happened in previous years with a total of almost 100 million euros worth of contracts for the procurement of new helicopters for the Air Force of the Republic of Croatia, i.e. light armored patrol vehicles for land wax, where the final decisions on the procurement of helicopters of the type "bell 412 EP/EPI" and "bell 505" , i.e. vehicles of the "Oshkosh JLTV" type, adopted in an extremely non-transparent procedure and without the citizens who pay for it ever finding out who defined the tactical-technical characteristics of the aircraft, i.e. the vehicle, on behalf of the VCG and the Ministry of Defense, and why exactly the state decided to conclude procurement contracts with these producers.
Turkish ship of the "Tuzla" class in the game?
The category of patrol ships "50 to 70 meters long" that the MoD is talking about now includes the type of ship that was mentioned in the transitional period as a very likely candidate to be included in the Fleet List of the MVCG - the Turkish patrol ship of the "Tuzla" class. These ships have so far been built in a series of 26 pieces for the Republic of Turkey and the Republic of Turkmenistan. They were also ordered by the Republic of Qatar.
The "Tuzla" class patrol boat is 57 meters long and has a full displacement of 420 tons, is served by 34 crew members, and is armed with a double-barreled 40 mm cannon and two remote-controlled machine guns of 12,7 mm caliber, and with two six-barreled anti-submarine rocket launchers. launcher, i.e. with two slides for depth charges. These ships have somewhat reduced radar reflection, and are capable of patrolling seas up to 5 Beaufort (wave height 4 meters). Powered by two MTU diesel engines with a power of 7.300 horsepower each, "Tuzla" reaches a maximum speed of 25 knots. The ship's autonomy is 14 days with a maximum sailing distance of 2.000 miles. The price of "Tuzla" roughly fits into the amount that the Ministry of Defense predicted in the budget for 2022 for the procurement of new patrol ships for the MVCG, because 16 ships of this type for the Turkish Republic of Moldova, built in the Daersan shipyard, cost 402 million euros, i.e. slightly more of 25 million euros per piece.
Israeli OPV possible option
A much more expensive option would be the purchase of modern new Israeli patrol boats of the type "OPV 58" or "OPV 62", such as those shown to Minister Injac and her colleagues by Israel Shipyards from Haifa, during the recent multi-day official visit of the Montenegrin Ministry of Defense delegation to Israel. However, this option may also be in play considering the possibility of including in the transaction some warships that have already been declared unpromising and withdrawn from operational use by the MVCG, such as two large patrol ships of the "Kotor" type and two missile gunboats of the "Rade" class Končar".
"There is a possibility that the sale of other non-promising MVCG vessels will be carried out as part of the procurement of new ships (by exchange), which will be an integral part of the market assessment and the proposal that is being developed," replied the Ministry of Defense.
The Croatian "Omiš" falls away according to the current criteria
It is definite, however, that according to the current criteria for the dimensions of new patrol ships for the MVCG, the previous "first favorite" pushed by the former leadership of the MoD with Predrag Bošković at the helm - the Croatian coastal patrol ship type OOB-31 "Omiš" - is out of the competition. That ship, with a length of just over 43 meters and a displacement of 240 tons, is smaller than what the Ministry of Defense is now looking for.
So far, Croatia has built only one ship of this type, although it ordered a total of five, because the prototype named "Omiš" showed a lot of shortcomings, especially when it comes to the stability of the ship.
Croatia has strongly promoted this ship in Montenegro in the past period, to the extent that the Croatian President Zoran Milanović made an official visit on the "Omiš", which sailed into the port of Tivat, last June, which is a very unusual occurrence.
A year earlier, "Omiš" also participated in the Adrion Livex 2019 exercise, which was hosted by Montenegro, so in Bar, the then Minister of Defense Bošković visited the ship, for whom a detailed presentation of technical features and capabilities was arranged. All this, according to unofficial information, resulted in the fact that the construction of two "Omiš" type ships in the Split shipyard for MVCG was already an agreed matter between the former Government of Prime Minister Duško Marković (DPS) and the Croatian authorities, but the deal collapsed due to the change of government in Montenegro in the August 2020 elections.
Are they hiding devastating data about the poor condition of the Navy?
The Ministry of Defense did not want to answer the questions of "Vijesti" as much as specifically which ships and vessels of the Navy from the beginning of 2021 until today have achieved driving and working hours of the propulsion complex, i.e. traveled miles of navigation.
"Given the security nature of the tasks of the Croatian Navy and the Navy, we cannot specify the tasks and the number of sailing miles traveled", replied the department of Minister Injac, adding that "the ships and vessels of the Croatian Navy are in accordance with the training plans and operational engagement plans, were engaged at sea, constantly during 2021, in accordance with the status of correctness in certain months".
"In the previous part of the year, the emphasis of the engagement was on the training of the commanders and crews of the patrol boat P-105 and the tugboat PR-41 on the realization of specific tasks in all weather conditions, the engagement of sailboats in sailing regattas in Montenegro, as well as the engagement of a certain number of vessels in the purpose of implementing the tasks of the state protocol. The biggest engagement of the MVCG's fleet this year was in the preparation and realization of the interest exercise PLATFORM 21", they explained.
MVCG ships sailed very little this year, so the complete activity of the Navy and its presence at sea was reduced to only a couple of trips of the patrol boat P-105 from Bar to Boka and back, i.e. several shorter tasks performed by the offshore tugboat PR-41.
The school ship "Jadran" almost never sailed from Bar, so the total time spent sailing all MVCG ships can only be measured in a few tens of hours. This is extremely small and has bad consequences for the training of the crews and the ability of the ships to perform their intended tasks.
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